PATRIOTS NOTEBOOK: Pats' Croston has ties to Brockton

Glen Farley The Enterprise @GFarley_ent

Friday

Dec 7, 2018 at 5:50 PM

Dave Croston, the father of second-year offensive lineman Cole Croston who went on to play for Green Bay, was a college teammate of Brockton's George Millett at the University of Iowa. The younger Croston has spent time this season on the Patriots' 53-man roster and practice squad.

FOXBORO – He showed up for work at Gillette Stadium on Thursday wearing not the orange and black of his alma mater, Sergeant Bluff-Luton High School located in the northwest corner of Iowa, but rather the black and red of the Brockton Boxers.

Cole Croston, the second-year Patriots offensive lineman who has spent his time in New England on both the team’s 53-man roster and its practice squad (as is the case right now), has ties to the “City of Champions.”

“(Brockton High School product) George Millett is a family friend,” said Croston. “He played with my father (Dave, a third-round draft pick of the Green Bay Packers in 1987 who went on to play 16 games in the offensive line for them) at Iowa in the early-to-mid ’80s and they’re still interconnected where I go out there and I talk to him and visit him – he’s still in that neck of the woods – a little bit and he’s got a million Brockton shirts and let me have one of them so I figured I’d wear it around.”

Millett, a Brockton High School Hall of Famer who started in the defensive line at Iowa, has given Croston more than the Brockton Boxers t-shirt he was wearing in the Patriots’ locker room earlier this week.

He’s given Croston a history lesson about Brockton as well.

“I know kind of about the Rocky Marciano story,” Croston said of the former heavyweight boxing great. “George has told me about him, but I’m still learning. George has talked about him a lot, a lot of history and a lot about what he did for Brockton. I also know about (former middleweight champ Marvelous) Marvin Hagler. We actually drove by his house when I was out there.”

As he does now, Croston played in the offensive line (he also punted and saw a small amount time in the defensive line his senior year) for the Warriors of Sergeant Bluff-Luton, but he was miles removed from the 6-foot-5, 310-pounder he’s become.

“I was barely 200 pounds,” said Croston. “I’ve filled out.”

He followed in his father’s footsteps in playing in the offensive line at Iowa, making the Hawkeyes as a walk-on, redshirting his freshman season in 2012 and then going on to start 18 games at tackle (both on the right and left sides) over his last two seasons, earning All-Big Ten honorable mention as a senior.

One of four rookie free agents to make the Patriots coming out of training camp in 2017, Croston saw limited action as a backup in three regular-season games and on special teams in their 24-20 AFC Championship Game win over Jacksonville. He appeared in two games earlier this year but was released on Nov. 6 and signed to the team’s practice squad two days later.

“Trying to be patient,” said Croston, “but things are good. I’m just trying to prepare myself week by week to step in when need be.

“It’s tough, but at the same time you want to always be on your p’s and q’s, ready to go when that time comes because that’s your opportunity. You want to perform when you get the chance.”

Croston says his two seasons in the NFL have “been a journey.

“It’s great to have that time under my belt to where I can kind of acclimate to the speed and the size of the guys in the NFL now, which is definitely different from college,” said Croston. “I think that’s definitely helped my development.”

Gilmore on report: The Patriots had an addition to their injury report on Friday, reporting that cornerback Stephon Gilmore was limited in practice with an ankle injury. Gilmore and tight end Dwayne Allen (knee) are questionable for Sunday's game with the Miami Dolphins at Hard Rock Stadium.

The Dolphins have ruled center Jake Brendel and cornerback Xavien Howard out of the game with knee injuries.